Films Worth Seeing - January 2005

Uncovered: The War on Iraq - a film by Robert Greenwald - 2004

Time Magazine called this "A sober and devastating critique of Bush's foreign policy."

This chronicle of the Bush Administration's quest to invade Iraq uses video of the key statements, over time, by President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, CIA Director George Tenet, Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, mixed with context, analysis, and contradicting facts provided by Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, Weapons Search Supervisor David Kay, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, Chief of Counter-Terrorism Richard Clark and 24 other top-ranking U.S. intelligence professionals, diplomts and former Pentagon officials, including President Bush's Secretary of the Army. http://www.uncoveredthewaroniraq.com



Tom Dowd and the Language of Music - Mark Moorman (Director) - 2003

Tom Dowd, who died in 2002, had a personality and sense of humor, a musical intuition, and technical ingenuity. Through an accident, he never pursued his intention to become a physics researcher. Instead, he quietly and joyous shaped 20th century music recording. Mark Moorman has made a beautiful film about someone who loved what he did, and was deeply appreciated by his colleagues.

Tom Dowd and the Language Of Music profiles the extraordinary life and legendary work of music producer/recording engineer Tom Dowd. Historical footage, vintage photographs and interviews with a who's who list of musical giants from the worlds of jazz, soul and classic rock shine a spotlight on the brilliance of Tom Dowd, whose creative spirit and passion for innovative technology helped shape the course of modern music.

A long-time engineer and producer for Atlantic Record, Tom Dowd was responsible for some of the most important R&B, rock, and jazz records ever made. In his own words, Tom Dowd relates how he went from working on the Manhattan Project, while still high school age, to recording some of the greatest music ever made over the last half of the 20th Century.

In the film, Tom introduces the audience to many of his closest friends, who happen to be some of the most talented recording artists and executives the music industry has ever known. Interviews with these recording industry icons tell the story of this humble genius, and recount the recording sessions and technical achievements that altered the course of contemporary music forever. - Very highly recommended. http://thelanguageofmusic.com



Hotel Rwanda - Terry George (Director) - 2004

Highly recommended. Based on the true story of Paul Rusesabigina, who created a safe zone at the Hotel he managed as Rwanda suddenly degenerated into the most violent and fastest-evolving genocidal tragedy in modern history. Don Cheadle plays Rusesabagina.
http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/intro.html



Sister Rose’s Passion - Oren Jacoby (Director) - 2004

This documentary of Sister Rose Thering, the Seton University instructor who worked tirelessly for decades to alter the Roman Catholic Church’s views about blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus, is very highly recommended. http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/42904/ltrose.html



A Very Long Engagement - Un Long Dimache de Fiancialles - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Director) - 2004

From the director and star of "Amelie" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou) comes a very different love story, "A Very Long Engagement" based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien Japrisot. The film is set in France near the end of World War I in the deadly trenches of the Somme, in the gilded Parisian halls of power, and in the modest home of an indomitable provincial girl. It tells the story of this young woman's relentless, moving and sometimes comic search for her fiancé who has disappeared. He is one of five French soldiers believed to have been court-martialed under mysterious circumstances and pushed out of an allied trench into an almost-certain death in no-man's land. What follows is an investigation into the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart.
The twists and turns of the plot, the colorful characters, the acting, the music and the cinematography make this comparable to other love stories set against the backdrop of war, such as "Gone With The Wind". Not to be missed.